Columns

For over a decade, Damian Erskine has published his “Ask Damian Erskine” column every week. That’s 533 columns. After that impressive run, Damian has decided to take a break. We can’t thank him enough for his contributions over the years.

Many people question the validity of music lessons. Are they worth it? Why do they cost [enter amount]? And what’s the point of having a teacher when you can learn on your own? That’s the topic of Ryan’s latest “Lightbulb Moment” column.

A reader asked Damian about his thoughts on recording yourself practicing. Damian, who has long been an advocate of this, breaks down the benefits of recording your practice sessions in this week’s “Ask” column.

There’s an art to figuring out rhythms. Ultimately, it comes down to feeling smaller subdivisions. For today’s “Ask Damian” column, we have a video to help us walk through different rhythms and how to decipher them on the fly.

A reader sent Damian a question that starts like this: “Sometimes I feel like I am supposed to be a certain type of player (especially after watching too many YouTube speed demons).” Check out this week’s column on “playing how you ‘should’ vs. how you ‘want.’”

We’ve all heard that James Brown was the hardest working man in show business, but in the world of bass players, there’s no doubt in my mind that this title would go to Bryan Beller. He’s the focus of Ryan’s new “Bass Players to Know” column.

This week, Damian got a question about moving between triplets and 16th notes within a single line. He decided to reply with a video on how he feels and practices the divisions.

In this month’s “Custom Shop” column, Jake Serek goes behind the scenes on Chris Swope’s life and work. Chris started out as an apprentice at Mass Street Music before working with Roger Sadowsky, then on to his own shop, Swope Guitars.

This week’s “Ask” column focuses on an interesting question for Damian, and his focus on drums early on before switching to bass. The question included other bits, including thinking rhythmically, harmonically, melodically, and more.

Peat Rains returns with the fourth installment of his tour diary with You Bred Raptors? In this column, he covers their stops in Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

The topic of this week’s “Ask Damian” column focuses on the topic of money. This is a frequent discussion on social media and elsewhere, and Damian dives in on the subject of “What I’m Worth vs. What I Can Get.”

Damian Erskine lost 72 pounds since the beginning of the year, and he did it over a time of lots of touring. A reader noticed and asked Damian to cover “How to Stay Healthy When Touring” in this new “Ask” column.